Windows Text to Speech in WSH JavaScript
Originally published on: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:47:15 +0000
I have recently begun to explore the Windows Speech API (SAPI) available on Windows XP and Vista. My earliest experiment involves a very simple WSH script that instantiates a SpVoice object, invokes the Speak() method, and then waits for the speech synthesis to finish by using WaitUntilDone()
I coupled the invocations of the two above SAPI SpVoice methods in a JavaScript function named speak().
speech.js
// Simple speech API call
//
// License: MIT / X11
// Copyright (c) 2009 by James K. Lawless
// jimbo@radiks.net http://www.radiks.net/~jimbo
// http://www.mailsend-online.com
//
// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
// obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
// files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
// restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
// copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
// copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
// Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
// conditions:
//
// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
// included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
// EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
// OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
// NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
// HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
// WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
// FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
// OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
var voice=new ActiveXObject("SAPI.SpVoice");
function speak(s) {
voice.Speak(s,1);
voice.WaitUntilDone(-1);
}
speak("I like peanut butter.");
To execute the above, type:
cscript speech.js
The next script I wrote uses the SAPI to synthesize speech for all arguments found on the command-line:
talker.js
// Speak the text supplied on the command line.
// cscript talker.js "phrase 1" "phrase 2" ... etc.
//
// License: MIT / X11
// Copyright (c) 2009 by James K. Lawless
// jimbo@radiks.net http://www.radiks.net/~jimbo
// http://www.mailsend-online.com
//
// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
// obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
// files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
// restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
// copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
// copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
// Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
// conditions:
//
// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
// included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
// EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
// OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
// NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
// HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
// WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
// FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
// OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
var voice=new ActiveXObject("SAPI.SpVoice");
var args=WScript.Arguments;
var i;
function speak(s) {
voice.Speak(s,1);
voice.WaitUntilDone(-1);
}
for(i=0;i<args.Count();i++) {
speak(args(i));
}
The examples below illustrate how to use this script either from the command-line or from batch files:
cscript talker.js "Tippecanoe and tyler too."
cscript talker.js "This" "is a" "test"
The Speech Control Panel applet provides a simple GUI interface to the SAPI speech synthesis system. The script below emulates that function of the applet. Since the WSH JavaScript API does not provide a GUI input dialog, a mixed-language WSF file is used. The VBScript portion of the script wraps the InputBox function with a function called prompt(). The prompt function then becomes available to the JavaScript portion of the code.
speechui.wsf
<job id="Text2SpeechUI">
<!--
Prompt for text and then synthesize the equivalent speech.
License: MIT / X11
Copyright (c) 2009 by James K. Lawless
jimbo@radiks.net http:www.radiks.net/~jimbo
http:www.mailsend-online.com
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
-->
<script language="VBScript">
Function prompt(s)
prompt = InputBox(s)
End Function
</script>
<script language="JavaScript">
var voice=new ActiveXObject("SAPI.SpVoice");
var txt;
function speak(s) {
voice.Speak(s,1);
voice.WaitUntilDone(-1);
}
for(;;) {
txt=prompt("Enter a line of text. Click 'Cancel' to exit.");
if(typeof(txt)=="undefined")
break;
if(txt!="")
speak(txt);
}
</script>
</job>
You can invoke the above by issuing the following command-line:
wscript speechui.wsf
Enter text in the input area and click OK.
Click 'Cancel' to terminate the script.
Unless otherwise noted, all code and text entries are Copyright ©2009 by James K. Lawless
Views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessary reflect those of the author's employer. Views expressed in the comments are those of the responding individual.
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